Australia's education exports have soared to a new high of $21 billion a year driven by a 17 per cent surge in Chinese student enrolment.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that international students brought in $20.96 billion in the year to September, the first time the figure has topped $20 billion in a 12-month period.

Getting the nationality mix right is going to be a key challenge, saysd Phil Honeywood from the International Education Association of Australia. Jesse Marlow

"With 85 per cent of native Mandarin speakers in many of our business courses now we are in danger of compromising the international experience of many overseas students. Getting the nationality mix right is going to be a key challenge," said Phil Honeywood, the association's CEO.

According to the ABS, 27 per cent of education export revenue was from Chinese students in 2015-16. Separate figures from the federal Department of Education show that the number of Chinese students up to August this year was 17 per cent higher than last year, compared to a 12 per cent rise in overall international student enrolments.

Forging relationships

"We need to focus less on the revenue and more on the soft power benefits that a more mature international education industry is providing the nation," he said.

Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson said that the people-to-people links fostered by international education created prosperity.

"Through the exchange of students on a grand scale, we're forging relationships that underpin our future diplomacy, trade, business links, cultural insight, and personal connections," she said.

Students in higher education supply 70 per cent of education export earnings. Even though less than half of international students are in higher education, the high fees and greater length of university-level courses compared to vocational education, schools and English language courses means these students pay proportionately more.

Over two-thirds of education export earnings go to NSW and Victoria, with Queensland earning 15 per cent, Western Australia 7 per cent and South Australia only 5 per cent.

The ABS calculates education export revenue by adding tuition fees paid by students to their estimated living costs and other spending while in Australia.

The estimate of the value of education exports is boosted when the value of royalties, education consultancies and other services offered overseas by educational institutions are added in. In 2015-16 these extra services were worth $450 million.